Colossal Souls

9. Size Is Everything

Nova's back hit the wall before her head.

"What exactly was that shit out there, Nova?"

She rubs her head, stars clouding her focus.

"Drake, lay off, alright?"

Stars passing, Nova watches as Gavin tries to pull Drake away from her.

"Bullshit, Gavin! You know this is exactly what those two wanted!"

Hank and Zara stand back, uncomfortably silent and uninvolved.

"This is still my team, and you're still going to listen to me." Gavin's voice almost soothes Nova's anxiety.

Drake stands back now, clenching his fists.

"She put all of our lives in danger out there. If Zara got hurt, or worse," Nova swore she saw Drake's eyes start to glisten as he spoke, "I wouldn't let Gavin stop me."

Silence settled over the cave they were in, illuminated by the night sky. Nova sat back, staring out into the open sky. They were right next to the edge of the mountain area, giving her a clear view of the massive dunes and the vanishing landscape beyond.

"That wasn't Haiden."

Everyone looked to Nova.

"That was the evil spirit inside of him. The one that makes him unable to speak." Nova looked at her teammates now.

"The spirit makes Haiden dependent. Makes him think without it, Haiden would lose his sanity."

"Wait, you knew that Haiden had this spirit in him, and just now are letting us know?" Hank asked.

"Why are you surprised Hank? The two of them were always a pair. They're here to sabotage Crowley and his Outlaws, it's so obvious." Drake shook his head.

Nova slid herself up the cave wall, using it as support.

"That's not the case. I was sent here to extract the spirit from Haiden. It's part of a plan devised by Jack, Dancer and I. It's the reason they were on Bliss for so long. Once I told them the nature of the Goombo spirit and how he was using Haiden, they wanted to help."

"What is the point of it doing that to Haiden?" Zara asked.

"The goal of the Goombo spirit is to take over as many planets as it can with green life. On the surface it might look nice, but it's a false paradise. Just ask my people, the Devils. They were on Bliss first. He's using Haiden to find other planets, and just by chance Arion is a planet the Goombo saw ripe for the taking."

"That sounds too convenient. That didn't look like you had it under control out there. What and how were you going to get rid of it, Nova?" Gavin said.

"Well no, it isn't going as planned. I was suppose to get him to lower his mental guards. I was going to go inside his mind, and battle the spirit. Devils, we have abilities similar to the Goombo. Or more so, the Goombo has abilities similar to ours. He stole our psychic powers from us, taking all that was our planet for his own. He is a parasite of the universe, and he's free, out there right now."

"Hold on, this is way too much to take in. We're just recruits, we haven't even found one transmitter yet." Hank spoke up.

Nova walked past the group, who let her pass by.

"Where do you think you're going?" Drake asked.

"Finishing my duty. Haiden is out there, terrified and possessed." Nova looked back, standing at the entrance of the cave.

"Let us help you Nova, we can do this as a team." Gavin took a step towards her.

"No, Hank was right. You're only recruits. This isn't your mission. The fact we were placed with you team was just bad luck. Whether I become an Outlaw or not does not matter. Only Haiden matters to me."